Chicago Reader staff authorizes strike, demands higher pay

With hopes of higher pay, the unionized staff of the Chicago Reader voted unanimously Friday to authorize a strike.

The move acts as a formal threat to the weekly newspaper's owner, Wrapports, that it's time to get serious in negotiations, music editor Philip Montoro said.

Employees are paid so little that many freelance or rent out their apartments to bring in extra income, or they leave the paper, Montoro said. He's been with the paper about 20 years and in his position for 13. He said he makes $42,000 a year.

"It's a free paper, and when you come to work for the Reader, you understand your salary will probably be below market," he said. "The problem is the salaries that were set below market 10, 12, 13 years ago haven't budged.

"It makes it hard to survive."

Wrapports, the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, bought the Reader in 2012 for about $3 million, according to a Chicago Tribune report. It has not offered increased salaries or benefits since the union, which represents 17 editorial staffers at the Reader, proposed a contract 16 months ago, Montoro said.

Wrapports spokeswoman Marisa Kollias wrote in an email that the company has been negotiating with the Chicago News Guild for several months over a contract and has made progress in some areas. It remains "committed to negotiating in good faith," she said.

"While we remain apart on some issues, we continue to hope we can keep negotiating to a positive resolution," Kollias said. "It is unfortunate that the Guild has taken this step."

The free paper launched in 1971 and distributes about 90,000 copies weekly in the Chicago area, according to the Reader's website.

A strike would be a last resort for the union, said Craig Rosenbaum, executive director of the Chicago News Guild. But things must change.

"You can't live in Chicago on that kind of salary," he said. "And if you're really smart, which everyone there is, you're going to find a job somewhere else."

A version of this article appeared in print on May 13, 2017, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Staff at the Reader authorizes strike" —
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